On Vermont Hillside, Amateur Telescope Makers Compare Their Feats

Published: August 5, 1997

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Dennis di Cicco, an editor of the magazine Sky and Telescope who attended his 31st Stellafane meeting this year, said that radical advances in electronic technology had changed the character of amateur astronomy.

''The advent of the charge-couple device, the electronic replacement for the photographic plates on which observers used to depend, has brought about a quantum leap in the last 10 years,'' he said. (The charge-couple device, somewhat similar to a television video chip, can detect light far fainter than that required by photographic film.)

''Using my 16-inch-diameter telescope equipped with a C.C.D.,'' Mr. di Cicco said, ''I can now observe objects so faint that until a few years ago, they would have been accessible only to the 200-inch telescope. Now, of course, the 200-inch also has C.C.D. cameras replacing photographic film, so it, too, is enormously improved.''

The light-gathering power of an amateur telescope equipped with a charge-couple device, Mr. di Cicco said, ''means that I can go out any night and find a faint asteroid that hasn't been detected before. It's become so routine that I just send my observations to the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union in Cambridge, Mass., and my discovery goes into the database. From the Internet, mathematical tools are available for roughly calculating orbits of the hundreds of objects discovered by amateurs and professionals.''

Changes in the manufacturing of commercial telescopes threaten to force profound changes on amateurs, some say.

Dr. Ferdinand Baar of Rome, N.Y., a retired podiatrist, began building telescopes in the 1960's at the age of 45.

''I got good at it, too,'' Dr. Baar said. ''I've won awards for my creations. In 1969, I built an 11-inch Maksutov telescope that won awards for both mechanical and optical performance.'' (A Maksutov is a hybrid telescope system embodying both mirrors and lenses.)

''I donated it to Hamilton College as a teaching instrument,'' he said, ''and they had to spend some money for an observatory to house it, but it's still in use. Today, with the electronic revolution in astronomy, things have changed. Commercially made telescopes have become better and cheaper than what most amateurs can make, and some of the incentive to build telescopes is gone.''

Another of the telescope enthusiasts at Stellafane who expects changes in the tradition was Bill Gabb of San Marcos, Tex.

''It's true that a lot of young people have lost interest in telescope building,'' Mr. Gabb said. ''The trouble is that with a TV set, you can now look through the eyes of a machine that's actually touching and analyzing rocks on Mars -- something no amateur's earthbound telescope can do. It robs telescope-making of some of its traditional romance.

''Fortunately, though, there have been two great comets in the last two years -- Hyakutaki and Hale-Bopp -- and they both rekindled amateur enthusiasm, I think.''

Making astronomical sights accessible to young people can also keep the love of telescopes alive, said Michael O'Gara of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York City. ''We'll have telescopes set up in Central Park's Sheep Meadow on Sept. 6,'' he said, ''and kids will be able to see Jupiter and Saturn with real instruments, not just pictures. There's nothing like that kind of direct experience to inspire young people.''

But the best hope for keeping amateur telescope-building alive, many said, is to make it a family occupation.

One of the families who came to Stellafane this year was that of John and Eileen Vogt and their 11-year-old daughter, Patti, from Huntington on Long Island. Mr. Vogt brought his monster 32-inch-diameter reflecting telescope, and Patti, a seventh grader at St. Patrick's School in Huntington, brought a diminutive but functional reflector with many refinements not commonly found in amateur instruments.

''It took me six months to grind the mirror and make the telescope,'' Patti said, ''but it was fun. And yes, I do love science and math.''

Photo: Telescope makers admire each other's work at the Stellafane convention at Breezy Hill near Springfield, Vt. (Paul Boisvert for The New York Times)(pg. C7)